Daily Market Review - 1/10/2014

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Market Overview

U.S. stocks ended Thursday session mixed as investors were reluctant to take any stand ahead of the release of the December U.S jobs report that is due today.

At the close of the session, U.S. stocks end sideways with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.11%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.03%, while the Nasdaq Composite index declined 0.23%.

In the ECB monthly statement yesterday, president Draghi extended his commitment to the EU economy and said that he is ready to take "further decisive action" if monetary authorities detected unwanted short-term tightening in the money markets or if the outlook for inflation worsened in the short-medium term. The ECB would consider "all possible instruments" to address these contingencies, he added.

In today's session, Asian markets closed mix (Friday) after China reported a mix numbers in its import/export numbers. Even though it reported a trade growth on all parameters, its Total trade growth was just below the full-year 8% target at 7.6%.

Uncertainty over the strength of the December jobs report and unemployment rate are expected to keep investors on the sidelines at least until the publication later today.

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have added 196,000 jobs last month, according to a Reuters survey of economists, slightly below November's count of 203,000. Hiring would, however, be above the monthly average.

On Wednesday, the preliminary payroll report by the ADP showed that private-sector nonfarm payrolls rose by 238,000 in December, surpassing consensus forecasts for an increase of 200,000.

On Thursday, the Labor Department said the number of individuals filing for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 15,000 to 330,000 from the previous week's revised total of 345,000.

The U.S. central bank linked its policy with the Job market and recent improvement led him to trimdown 10B out of its 85 monthly bond purchase program.

Minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting showed its top officials were keen to end QE3 sooner than later.

Today report may provide insights into whether the Federal Reserve will announce another cut in quantitative easing at its upcoming meeting.